Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Martin, when I try to use Update from the Application Manager, I get a failure message:

Failed catalogs:
maemo.org
Communtiy SSU (testing)
maemo.org extras
maemo.org extras-devel
maemo.org extras-testing

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...9&postcount=34

Likely cause.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Woo hoo, this morning app manager notified my phone that an update for Modrana was available & was successful in downloading it.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

modRana 0.39.11 has been released !
As a form of celebration that up-to-date modRana is now again available from Extras-devel, 36 new map layers have been added. :)

Most of the of the new layers are quite interesting, aren't they ? And which one is your favorite ? :)

Screenshots of interesting layer combinations welcome ! :)

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Nice, especially the traffic overlay can be useful :)

still playing around with the maps, the submarine cable map seems to be off: puts me somewhere of the coast of southern Norway, normal maps are fine

Screenshot: Stamen watercolor + google weather overlay (100%) zoomlevel 7

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for adding the Google Traffic layer! I've been waiting for this development with anticipation for a long time now. A question: is the traffic layer self-updating? If so, can a specific time interval be set to refresh the layer?

Thanks again Martin for continuing to support and improve this application, it is much appreciated.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Quick reply...
Github gives me 404 error for this webpage, so a modified file is attached here. Though, I don't know how to connect this map-overlay to user options (rWin), so the background layer is hard-coded as "vaer", and opacity is hard-coded as 50-50.
Best wishes.
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Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

:eek: Jaw drop. Thanks! You will have fun time, keeping it working as services change, especially google ones. May the Force be with you ;)

Confirming - if it's fixable, it would be nice, but I'm not sure if submarine cable map is cartographically accurate. Maybe it should be considered as "consult only" one, like moon surface maps in Marble (which also shows your "current" position ;)

Good question - it seems that per-layer update interval could be useful. Meanwhile, maybe per-mode settings could be abused to achieve the same?

/Estel

//Edit

It seems, that traffic overlay is strange. Even with "labelled" option, it shows label only for places, where traffic colors are present. Sometimes, it even cut parts of street name (because color ends there).

Feature request - could we have user-configurable, arbitrary number of layers? This way, in many cases, we would be able to create task-specified, fancy settings. For example, using above case - one could get google satellite as main, street names layers above, and traffic overlay on top.

But, it would be useful in many other cases, too (satellite + streets + signal, or satellite + street + temperature).

/Estel

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

I hv installed modrana in my n9 via terminal version 39.8 whereas latest version is 39.11. pls tell me the way of update or atleast refer me to the post in this thread.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Here you are: Harmattan deb package, 0.39.11. Found at modrana.org.
Best wishes.
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Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Quick reply...
This is a modified version of PinchMap.qml. Still not attached to the settings: the list of layers is set in "property variant layers". Theoretically, it should work with any number of layers.
Best wishes.
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Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Yeah, their projection seems to slightly differ from the standard web-mercator currently supported in modRana (and used by OSM, Google & co). But as the the map is quite low-resolution, I see fixing this as lower priority. :)

BTW, I had similar (only much more serious) projection problems with the chartbundle layers. I even delved to the source of the OpenLayers Javascript library it uses, but without success.

Nice combination ! :) Can I add this image to the modRana screenshot gallery ?

Thatnks both - roman2205 for reminding me to trigger the Harmattan build & Wikiwide for posting the download link. :)

Not yet, but I know about this issue. I plan to add a layer setting to the map configuration file, that would set for how long will the map tiles be considered valid before being redownloaded (and maybe even reload currently displayed tiles ?). Something like:
And a setting in Options to turn this behavior on/off.

Also, any ideas how I should set it for the different layers (eq. how often are they updated ?)?

As a workaround until this is implemented, you can just delete the folder before starting modRana (and if storing to tiles, maybe even periodically delete it while modRana is running :D).

Well, yeah - I'll have to fix it once a broken layer is reported and/or once I notice it myself. :) Also, due to the modRana source being on Github, the nice automatic pull-request functionality can used - like the pull request Wikiwide recently sent me with the vearth layer. :)

You might get a similar effect already with options->Map->Tile Storage->Store downloaded tiles
If you set it to NO, it will only store tiles in memory cache and won't store them to "disk". The cache is circular with newer data overwriting old. Works for all layers, even the background one you might want to store. :)
Yeah, it behaves in quite strange way. For example, if you change the style property, it randomly slightly changes. There were also other variables in the original URL, but I have dropped them as they didn't seem to influence the concrete tile I was using for testing. Might be that they do influence other tiles or are time dependent.

As Wikside has already demonstrated, it is quite easy to do in the QML GUI. :) Though, with something like 10+ map layers, it might screw-up with QML image cache behavior a bit. :)

In the GTK GUI, IIRC it already composites the tiles just once and then draws the result from cache. So compositing more than two tiles might also work.

BTW, being able to save interesting layer combinations might be also handy, even though it can be currently supplemented by the per-mode setting.

Thanks, looks good ! Nice idea with the variant. :) I'll hack some settings for it so the layers can be configured and merge it back in. :)

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

i am at work, and would not check...for n900(running with 21.2011.38-1Tmaemo7.2+thumb0 CSSU), is the version v0.39.9 the latest? I did not see anything about update last night.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

I have some questions about your software and before I ask I must greet you, its a WONDERFUL program!

So...I liked more the QML GUI but when I try to open some menus the app just doesnt open them, why so? These menus are 'Search' , 'Routes', 'POI', 'Map->Download', 'Mode->*any*', 'Options->*any*'. Basically I cant search, cant change routing options and blah blah..that problem doesn't exist in the GTK GUI.

And the second one, for example - I have downloaded a map tile of a particular area on 15.03 and that area gets updated on 18.03 will the program check in any way that there is a new version or I have to delete that tile and download it again?
Thanks in advance!

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

I like the idea of having an option to redownload the tiles that are currently displayed, once validity expires.

Otherwise, having the option to easily turn refresh on/off, and to be able to vary the interval would be useful. It seems that refresh for some layers is irrelevant, while refresh rates for other layers will vary depending on the type and use case. For example, I believe that Google Traffic updates very close to real time in some cases, depending on the location. Setting the refresh rate to something like every 15 minutes (or less) could be useful if I am driving, for example. Being able to change the refresh to longer intervals, or turning refresh off entirely would be useful if my battery was running low or if I want to limit my mobile data usage...

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

The qml version is work in progress and some menus are placeholders. So "Modrana" is the operational version and "Modrana-qml" is developmental.

As you wrote: great program.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Just started to properly learn this program and it is great. I have three questions though, which may already be answered in this thread, and if so apologies for missing them (I have searched but at over 100 pages I may have missed it).

They're all in reference to offline usage:

1) Is it possible to download a whole region/country (eg UK) in one go, rather than the 160km radius?

2) This may get round (1), but is there a way to download the tiles (OSM Mapnik, preferably) on a computer (Linux, but I can get to Windows if necessary)? I have seen the perl script to import them to sqlite, so I know what to do once I've got them.

3) What are the downsides of using the "external" SD card to store the tiles? Not an issue in My Docs at the moment, but if I have a lot of offline tiles stored, I may want to shift them to save space in the future.

Again, many thanks for the application.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Quick reply...
I personally use JTileDownloader. There are other tile downloaders, of course.
Best wishes.
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Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

That answers my main two questions, many thanks. :D

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Just read the OSM tile usage policy. What servers do people use? I'm looking at mapquest's UK one.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

You can run Modrana on the linux computer as well, and download the maps there and then transfer them to the N900.

The problem with saving to extrernal SD is with storing them as individual tiles, which is not efficient for small files on the filesystem (FAT) and takes up a lot of extra space ( quickly adding up to 20 GB if you have lots of tiles stored)..

True, these maps are more of a fun addition, adds some bragging rights (look at what MY phone can do :D :p like the historic, moon and mars maps in Marble)

Yes, I forgot Maemo.org automatically resizes them, I´ll upload a full resolution one.

Cloudmade Tourist + Google public transport overlay (50%)
http://i.imgur.com/mPWGpih.png

Stamen watercolor + Google weather overlay (100%)
http://i.imgur.com/Qft9coX.png

MapQuest EU + Opensignal (50%)
http://i.imgur.com/jugGEh1.png

A option for setting these in map layers (per mode state list setting, this button doesnt do anything yet?)) would be nice, maybe only for weather and traffic ?, Once every few hours for things like weather. For traffic more often. I thinmk at least once every time modrana runs (with network connection).

This works fine, I already noticed the weather icons not being updated and deleted the maps.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Yes, I've since seen that and am considering it as a possibility, thanks.

So the sqlite db has to be in My Docs? No big deal at the moment, was more thinking about the future if/when that starts to get full.

Incidentally, after reading through the downloading tiles issues, it looks like I'll be scaling back my offline stored stuff, and just updating if I plan to leave my covered area. I'm currently downloading some from Mapquest and hope to have a reasonable local coverage soon.

I hadn't realised that it was an issue.

Thanks everyone for the help.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

No, the database can be anywhere. I had some 22 GB in use for the maps for a few cities, freed up most of it when I reloaded them as sqlite. I downloaded them as seperate tiles for use with other nav programs.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

I can't see an update notification either (in HAM or FAM). I've tried "apt-get install modrana" but it says modrana is already updated. I currently have 0.36.6 installed.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

That would be because that is the latest version available in extras:

http://repository.maemo.org/extras/p...ree/m/modrana/

Newer versions than 0.3.36 are in extras-devel:

http://repository.maemo.org/extras-d...ree/m/modrana/

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Right, I tried to use the Perl import script on a set of tiles and got the following error, many times (many, many times), probably one per tile:

It also only created store.sqlite.0 - would I be right in guessing that the numbering is not relevant to the zoom level?

The sqlite store is 676M in size, so I tried it on the device anyway, without expecting it to work.

The tiles are Mapquest and I selected that on the device, and got it to download some tiles - store tiles is turned on. There was no MapQuest dir created in the .maps dir, so I just copied the sqlite files into .maps. When I then went to the are I had downloaded, the UI said it was downloading tiles (it was quick). Still no Mapquest dir was created.

So....am I right in thinking I messed something up?

1) Has anyone else seen the perl error - is my copy of the script out of date (I took it from the beermad link at theModRana wiki)?

2) Should there be a Mapquest subdir, and how should it be named?

3) What would be the best indicator that it all worked, when I get it sorted?

Thanks. :)

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

I was wondering - is there a way to convert arbitrary images to a map tiles layer? I have aviation maps downloaded from here: http://aeronav.faa.gov/index.asp?xml...chartlist_sect. And I want to use that as a map layer. I can crop the .tiffs to get just the map part, but then can this be converted into a tile layer modRana can use?

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Fixed! I actually had extras-devel enabled, and Opera Mobile (also in extras-devel) was prompting to upgrade without fail, but Modrana wasn't. The problem was that my distribution was "fremantle-1.3", not "fremantle", and Modrana 0.39.11 only exists in "fremantle"

The content on the wiki http://wiki.maemo.org/Extras-devel is thus misleading/incorrect: "Enter a distribution of ‘fremantle’ (‘fremantle-1.2’ and ‘fremantle-1.3’ now have the same content)"

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

I finally had time today to return to this, and I found the bug report for mapconvert earlier in this thread. It's now chuntering through my downloaded tiles. Hopefully all will be obvious once it's finished.

It might be worth mentioning the bug at the beermad site's version on the wiki where it's linked.

Sorry for missing it when I posted earlier.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Right, all sorted, many thanks MartinK and all else who have contributed to this superb application.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Quick question...
Has anybody recently started modrana-qml on N900 from X-Terminal? Because it seems to give a lot of errors about failing to load an icon - because rWin.mTheme is equal to "" instead of "default", and the path becomes "image://icons//name.png". I would say that rWin is somehow not loaded in time. But I cannot be sure. I have also been trying to get the "menu" icon to show the mode - train, bicycle, bus, whatever - similarly to GTK UI, and rWin.mode seems to be undefined...
Best wishes.

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Thanks for the pointer - looks like I'm getting it too. The weird thing is that the icons actually show in the GUI. Anyway, I'll investigate. :)

BTW, rWin is the variable than contains the root window, which is currently instantiated from qml_harmattan/main.qml

Good idea! The root window has no mode property yet, but as mode indeed is an important connect in modRana, I'll add a new property that exposes it to QML in an easy to use way. :)

BTW, I've also integrated + extended your multi-layer idea (the code is already on Github) and I'm getting it ready for release. :)

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

So I've exposed the mode using the modrana QML context property. So to get the current mode, just use it like this anywhere in the QML code:
modrana.mode is a R/W sub-property, so it can be also used to set the current mode, modRana-wide:
I've also fixed the theme related errors by specifying the modrana.theme sub property. It was probably caused by the root window not being completely loaded at startup. On the other hand, context properties are set before the main loop is started and the view shown, so it should not have this problem any more. :)

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

modRana 0.40.1 has been released !
The main highlight of this release is map overlay support in the QML GUI, based on Wikiwides proof of concept (thanks ! :) ).

http://modrana.org/images/qt_gui/mod...l_overlays.png
Main map sets the background layer and returns to the map screen. The Overlays button switches to the overlay configuration page.

http://modrana.org/images/qt_gui/mod...ys_example.png
The Overlays page can be used to:

• add or remove overlays
• set overlay opacity
• set layer for a given overlay and the main map

http://modrana.org/images/qt_gui/mod...bratislava.png
This is how the map configured on the previous screenshot looks like.

• background - Stamen Watercolor
• overlay 1 - Mapnik @ 60% opacity
• overlay 2 - OSM Transit @ 100% opacity

The map shows Bratislava, the site of the next Openmobility conference on 6-7 of april. :)

http://modrana.org/images/qt_gui/mod...ys_loading.png
When the tiles are being downloaded, a pretty printed status text is shown. The layers are loaded independently, so this status indicator can be used which layer has problems with tile loading, etc. :)

For now, the overlays are not persistent, but that is on my TODO list. :) Another thing on my TODO: showing a full layer list in the QML GUI (for now it has a hardcoded layer list).

BTW, there is no hard limit on the number of overlays used at once - and the N900 seems to have no issues even with 5+ layers. :)

Also an in my opinion important UI enahncement has been added - long pressing the back arrow takes you to the map screen - (already work like this in the GTK GUI).

Changelog:

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

I am trying to add my own map source to modrana. Microsoft/bing (boo!) maps offer UKOS maps. These are some of the nicest maps available for the UK. I was able to add them to marble with this server string:
In the above example, the 'query="g=41&productSet=mmOS"' is where the magic happens. This is appended to the end of the URL and makes the server return UKOS map tiles instead of virtual earth tiles.

I do not see how to add this parameter to the modrana map config file URL.

Any help?

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

That would be very nice, but even more so offline as when I use OS it tends to be in poor signal areas. The thing is, Bing license the maps from the OS and probably pay a hefty fee, as well as having to restrict their use. I did try and see if it was possible to download the tiles offline, but I messed up the url and got ve tiles. I might try again at some point, but am not optimistic.

As for online, can't help there, unfortunately, but watching Bing maps when using them, they do have multiple servers that they seem to round-robin access - ecn.t0...ecn.t1....ecn.t2...ecn.t3....ecn.t4...

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Yes it is entirely possible to get the OS map tiles.

I convinced Dwarzdyn to include quad-tree map sources in cloudgps so I could use OS maps. Unfortunatley, Dwardz has moved onto other things so cloudgps has become abandonware, which is a real shame because it was *nice*.

I then started using marble maps and wrote the UKOS map profile for it, it worked quite well but now marble maps has ceased development on the n900. *sigh*.

So AFAIK the last, currently developed map program for the n900 is Modrana. If all the other map programs can grab the map tiles, so can Modrana.

There are 4 servers numbered t1 to t4. You can just use one if you wish but I guess download speed will suffer. I never noticed a problem on cloudgps. If you do not supply the magic string at the end you just get bing satellite images. So the question is, how do I specify a parameter to be added to the end of the URL?

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

There were quite a few others that got discontinued:

• Geeps
• Yosmapa
• Monav GUI
• AGTL for N900
• Sygic

BTW, modRana actually still supports even the original Neo FreeRunner with the GTK GUI and some people are still occasionally using modRana on the Neo. :)

I think there that booth Navit and Mapsi are still under development.

I've just released 0.41.2, it has a new coordinate type called quadtree_substitution that can be used like this:
Just like in the Linux shell, the ${quadindex} variable will be replaced by the quadindex. :)

I've recently added a similar coordinate type for the usual zoom, x & y tile coordinates:
Also when I was at it, I've added the UKOS layer. :) It reminds me a bit of the Soviet-military maps layer. In unfortunately uses some funky WMS-based addressing (the tiles are specified by they geographic coordinates) so I've not yet been able to add it to modRana.

Most bigger tile servers have multiple domains due to single-download-thread per domain in browser Javascript. I might be good to add support for using them in modRana too. :)

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

Buddy can there be yahoo maps:) it has good coverege of places at my place in india

Re: [Announce] modRana: a flexible GPS navigation system
 

You sir, are a star. :)